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I had to brace myself, nearly losing my balance as the quake rocked the building. Weavile had a lot worse of time, however, being in the battle itself falling over and getting rocked to his core severely and getting damaged profusely by this Venusaur's outrageous might. So much so, he was wailing out in agony. He wasn't going to make it if this kept up. That being said, this was our, more than likely, one and only opening.

"Weavile! Listen up!" I called out to him as I managed to stay firm for the moment. The Weavile quieted down, gritting his teeth as he continued to get rocked by the quake. "Counter!"

Weavile managed to get back up, getting tumbled about, but then managed to get his footing, rushing forth, straight for the Venusaur, claws out. "WEEAAA-VILLLE!" The Pokemon screeched, giving a hard, vengeful slash upwards upon the Venusaur.

"Now Weavile use-huh?"

"Vile?"

The two of us looked over, ready to solidify our position, until we both realized that we...really didn't need to. The hell? What just happened? I know Counter actually does a grand deal of damage under the right circumstances, but I didn't think it would actually do the job completely. Even Weavile, as banged up as he was from the Earthquake attack, was perplexed by the whole notion. Even he was sure it was not over by any means until this. I walked forward towards my Weavile, listening in on the exchange between Diantha and Capri and it took a second to figure out what was going on. I suddenly realized that the whole strategy, what came off as a ungodly defense was really his offense after all. He didn't want to ensnare Weavile just for the sake of stopping him, he had to do it just to maintain Venusaur's mega evolution. He really was trained for the time being to be a leech just to compensate for it. Talk about those happy accidents when using Weavile's Torment. I didn't expect it to work that well.

But it now left me to wonder all the more now what on Earth is Mega Evolution really? I didn't imagine that this new form would have a taxing limitation like that. By context its something that one can extend with the proper training...which I guess was the reason why Wulfric's Abomasnow and Wikstrom's Scizor didn't show signs of exhaustion from the transformation despite the hard fights I had with them. The Pokemon were just that experienced.

As soon as I managed to make it to Weavile, I saw him cringe a bit, still hurting from where the Earthquake attack. "You alright there, Weavile?"

"Vile weavileeee..." the Pokemon replied.

"Yea, I kind of figured. You did good. Take a breather, alright?" I said, taking out his Pokeball and recalling him back to the ball. I then walked towards Diantha and Capri, seeing the kid still on the floor. "No shame, Capri. Stand up. You and Venusaur gave it what you have. There is nothing to be upset about here."

"Thank you. Eh, I think teacher actually does, and probably more so considering of what lengths that I was willing to go through to actually learn. Part of the reason why I'm out here, really." I said. "Who knows, what Capri pulled off here today may be something someone will do at the gym eventually. Not to mention, look at it this way, while this wasn't a gym battle by any means, I would imagine that Capri now knows just a little of what their capable of. Apprentices and Gym Leaders are going to try to be resourceful in any way they can to test any and all trainers that challenge them. It's going to be difficult, but many can attest that it is rather rewarding for both the trainers and their Pokemon."

"Like I tell everyone, I'm here to learn. I just managed to find my way this way right now because I just wanted to see what was going on, and if I got a battle then great, mission accomplished. Though...well...I don't think it would be my place, but now that I am thinking about it, maybe you could help me with something if you're feeling a little generous. The last time I was here, while yea, I managed to get the title I did get and such and even got a meeting with Sir Wikstrom, it was...well...cut short. You might have heard about it, the Royal Guard stormed this place, probably to get to me in particular because of Comebuy Sr decided to let the King know that I was here and instigate getting me captured by the likes of them. It wasn't all that pleasant of a day, as you can imagine, for anyone involved here. Before I leave back for Jhoto, I wouldn't mind getting another meeting with him if at all possible. Maybe see how he's doing since that day. In a way, one warrior checking on a comrade in arms, as he might look at it." I explained to her. While yes, I lied, some of the best lies come with a fair bit of truth to them, especially if said truths probably had things they could look into, such as the guard raiding this place. It was all the matter if she would buy into it.

"Getting a battle with you and have the possibility of seeing Sir Wikstrom again? How can I say no? Especially to someone like you. It would be an honor either way." I said to her. While I was still trying to keep up appearances, I got to admit this was a bit pressuring. I had to beat Diantha just to get to Kiloude City. No questions asked. While I was no stranger to squaring off against champions, I still understand that they're champions for a reason. Worse, is that my main advantage when coming to fight champions is out the window anyhow. I could pretty much tell anyone how the likes of say Lance out of Kanto, or Steven...or Wallace...out of Hoenn, or Cynthia from Sinnoh could butt heads with someone...but Diantha? Here? Not a freakin' clue. Worse when I'm still dealing with the proverbial 'X factor' in wondering if she has a Mega Evolution. Scratch that...no if. What is her Mega Evolution Pokemon. I have a hard time believing that someone with her status would be without one. "So, what ground rules would you like for this battle? For that matter, do you want to still do it in the hall here?" I asked.

As the bunch left, I gave a sigh then started to walk off back for the room to take care of both Weavile and Telia after their hellacious battle against the prodigy, but then perked up when GRAY started speaking up from my SNAG. Freakin hell. Timing! I made my way back to the room with the healing machine then took out my SNAG.

"Blast it, GRAY." I said. "Apparently you weren't listening in from earlier...you know that little tidbit of Comebuy probably having a good portion of this place wired." I said. "At any rate, I've already thought about Diantha. I came here expecting to have a ungodly fight against her. Sub knew of that too, you know. He wouldn't have sent me back out here if he didn't think I would be able to at the very least make her work for a win."

"I've already thought about that a little, honestly." I said to GRAY. "Unfortunately, I got to go as is. I would go with a Legendary myself, but the only one that I have, which I didn't bring by the way, is my own Articuno, and even more unfortunately, it may as well be like I went in with a untrained Pokemon anyhow. I never had it go into battle before. It's the reason why I brought the team I have now. They are for the most part the most experienced crew I have, and for that matter, at the very least, it isn't like when I fought Wikstrom, I deliberately came in with a not very diverse team just to bait everyone into fighting me. And even then I got him down to his Mega Scizor and gave him a reason to remember Zangoose in particular." I said. "I know the odds are against me considerably GRAY, you don't have to spell that out to me, but I got to take a crack at it anyhow."

"......" For some reason, that kind of rung deep. Usually the snark out of GRAY doesn't really bother me. Most of the time, unless I in particular need something, I just tune the freakin' computer out. I don't know. I already knew that I was going to be hard pressed to take down the champion. I knew that long before coming here. I was resigned to that fact that there may have been a good possibility I may not be able to take her out if I had to come to blows with her. But now...it was like the gravity of it kind of sunk in. Well, I can't get upset with myself over it now; I had to see it through, for better or for worse.

After getting my Pokemon tended to once again, I made my way out for the gardens.